To celebrate NAIDOC week this week the Foundation class read the books Sharing and Family by Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson. These 2 books have been beautifully illustrated with each page capturing the attention of the students. As we discussed the books we focussed on two phrases “ Yarning old people, endless skies, breeze through silky oak. Family, stories and songs.” We talked about the meaning of yarning: ‘A yarning circle is the practice of speaking and listening from the heart, for sitting together to talk and listen and share ideas and stories. It is a harmonious, creative and collaborative way of communicating to: encourage responsible, respectful and honest interactions between participants, building trusting relationships.’

After reading the story we watched a video clip from the Koori artplay series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqDZBJCuW2I&t=203s

As a class we discussed the procedure and then went outside to each collect a stick. The students chose several coloured strands of wool and began creating their own yarning sticks. The beautiful sticks have been placed in a large jar on our prayer table. When we have ‘circle time' in our classroom we will choose a stick to be passed around the students as they share their thoughts and ideas.